Regulation of Foxn4 during retina development

TL;DRAbstract

Transcription factor forkhead box N4(Foxn4) is a key regulator involved in a variety of biologic processes in development and metabolism. In particular, Foxn4 plays an essential role in the genesis of amacrine and horizontal neurons from neural progenitors in the retina. Although the functions of Foxn4 have been well established, the transcriptional regulation of Foxn4 expression during progenitor cell differentiation remains unclear. The goal of this dissertation is to identify regulatory mechanisms that define the expression of Foxn4 during retinogenesis. Four evolutionarily conserved regions (CR1-CR4) from non-coding sequences of Foxn4 gene were computationally predicted as cis-elements. Their gene regulatory potential was individually tested in developing chick and mouse embryonic retina using electroporation transfection technique with a reporter assay system. In this dissertation, I describe that CR4.2 (a 129 bp DNA fragment of CR4, located approximately 50kb upstream of Foxn4 tr

Chat with Paper

AI Agents for this Paper